
I 





Class__Eli^ 
Book_^lYI4l 



AN 



ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED IN MEDFIELD;, 



4th JULY, 1816. 



Bt DANIEL C. SA.NDERS, D.D. 

Pastor of the Congregational Church in that towa. 



i 

" qUID LEGjES SINE MORIBUS ?" Hor.* 



DEDHAM : 

ABEL D. ALLETNE, PRINTKR, 
1816. 



1 -B' / fe 



ADDRESS. 



FELLOW CITIZEJ>rS, 

1 HE duties and the dangers of a people pecu- 
liarly favoured by the providence of the Almighty 
will present to the mind a subject of contemplation, 
not wholly unsuitable to the business of the day, nor 
unworthy of the occcasion that has called us together. 
This growing empire has always been distinguish- 
ed b;y the peculiar care of heaven. The genius of 
Columbus was illumed, his soul fortified, and his lit- 
tle vessel guided by an agency evidently not his own. 
By a pious mind the footsteps of providence are to be 
traced, not only in the daring enterprise that led to 
the discovery of the new Continent, but more clearly 
in the preparations made in the new world for the 
reception of a race of men more enlightened and im- 
proved. When, withhold, adventurous spirits, the 
pilgrims of the East had arrived through perils of the 
watry wastes at the shores of the hemisphere in the 
West, the hand of the Protector through the sea had 
piade ready for them a large place on the land. Of 



* 

the savage tribes, some had recently become wholly- 
extinct, and all greatly diminished in numbers by the 
wastes of pestilence, by the prevalence of vices, by 
the wars they waged upon each other, and by the 
dreadful judgments of heaven. By other power than 
that of man, the heathen had been cast out, and large 
room made for the people of God. The discovery of 
the new world has changed the condition of the old, 
and has given a new turn to the affairs of both. 

Not yet have two centuries passed away, since the 
feet of the pilgrims first stepped on ^Forefather's Rock' 
at Plymouth. The mind is surprised at the new crea- 
tion of things that has since arisen, while it is con- 
founded with the numbers and the magnitude of events 
that have crowded so short a period of time. In turn 
we are cheered and saddened with the affecting sight 
of hundreds of millions of men who have appeared 
and departed, generation after generation, in such a 
narrow span of being. This old and crazy globe 
has tottered beneath the weight that pressed it. On 
the ancient Continent, names in history are the chief 
remains of nations once renowned for their arts and 
arms. The proud monuments of their power have 
crumbled Avith the dust that covered their bodies. 
When we ask where imperial cities once stood, we 
are pointed to the place where wild beasts of the 
desert now lie down, those of the islands in desolate 
houses, dragons in pleasant palaces and foxes look 
out of the windows. Tyrants, who once acted as if 



the world was made for them, have now hardly sig- 
pificatice enough to move the contempt of posterity. 
The achievements of mortals are perishable as them- 
selves, and great Csesar's dust was destined to be 
scattered in the winds. On the new Continent, events 
wooderful as they were rare, interesting as they were 
unexpected, have passed in quick and awful succes- 
sion. The very ground we tread on was once ani- 
mated with the life of human beings. In places 
where the aboriginal inhabitants roamed with minds 
darker than their bodies, a new race has succeeded 
bringing with them the arts of civilization, founding 
new empires, improving upon old systems, and mak- 
ing a noble experiment of what can be effected by 
knowledge and experience, by principles and facts, 
by religion and morals. 

We had come to the borders of an immense field, 
too large for a distinct and minute view ; but we turn 
to a smaller, perhaps a brighter spot, where our in- 
terests centre, where we drew our first breath, where 
we hope to draw our last, where lie the ashes of our 
fathers, where we would have our own find repose — 
our beloved country. By painful experience, our an- 
cestors knew the errours and wretchedness of the 
old world. The ignorance and the horrours of the 
dark ages had not yet wholly gone. In government, 
feudal principles remained, the many were at the 
controul of the few, men were the slaves rather than 
the subjects of government, while correct sentiments 



of the natural equality of the human species, of civil 
or of political liberty, had not yet entered their minds, 
nor hardly become subjects of speculation. Hope- 
less, while their bodies were in a state of vassalage 
and their minds were in a worse state of ignorance, 
the cultivators of the soil and the cattle they raised 
being alike considered as mere property and sold to- 
gether with the land that nourished both, men had 
neither the ambition nor the courage to think >r 
themselves. They felt a tremendous power, before 
which they bowed with passive obedience and non- 
resistance, while they were too ignorant to know ei- 
ther their rights or their duties. In feudal times, it 
was the last thing people would have believed that 
all lawful power was derived from their own will, or 
was to be directed to their benefit and enjoyment. 
The people felt an interest in throwing all power into 
the hands of the prince, because they had greater 
security in having one tyrant than many. — ^Nor was 
it better in regard to religion. The laws of the ma- 
gistrate were put in the place of the authority of God. 
Only one mode of faith and practice was tolerated. 
The church was deemed infallible, and took upon 
herself to manufacture creeds, truth and conscience. 
She fancied that thinking was dangerous to common 
people ; though they had not offended much this way 
for more than a thousand years of dark ages. In the 
midst of this gloom of night and chaos, the voice of 
the Almighty was heard at length to say, " let there 



be light/*' The sun of righteousness, whose first 
rays had been so bright, once more broke from beliind 
the clouds that had hidden it, and rendered the past 
darkness doubly horrible as it sunk below the horizon. 
As men began to think, they soon discovered different 
truths, and of course formed different opinions. Nor 
were they slow to discover that God was the Lord 
alone of the mind. A few bold spirits arose, who 
soared above the intolerance of the age, which, under 
preteuce of supporting religion, actually subverted it, 
with a zeal worthy of a good cause. At length per- 
ceiving that their posterity would be corrupted, and 
believing that the new world would be an asylum for 
the oppressed and persecuted, they came to these 
shores. The divine auspices favored the pilgrims. 

After this period, much of the best blood ran from 
the opened veins of Europe. The advocates of a free 
government, of religious liberty, of enlarged privi- 
leges for the people, now flocked to the new world. 
The masters of the old were not contented with that ; 
they must have the new too. They would sit on 
their crumbling thrones, and, while they would " not 
touch the burthens of the people with one of their fin- 
gers," they would measure the whole earth by their 
avarice or ambition. At this time, though a whole 
Continent was before them, yet the emigrants had not 
formed one integral government upon it. Though 
the labours of their own hands were slowly converting 
" a wilderness of wants into a paradise of sweets," 



^ 



tliough the soil they tilled was their own by fair pur- 
chase from the natural proprietors, yet they seemed 
willing to bend their necks to the yoke, to acknow- 
ledge masters they never saw, to submit to laws la 
which they had no voice, to spread out suppliant 
hands to princes three thousand miles off, sovereigns, 
whose fatherly care was so great as to take their best 
earnings for the favour of protecting them. It was 
such care and such protection as wolves give to sheep. 
The ileece was not enougho 

I would not abuse your ears nor pollute your minds 
by an exposition of mad schemes, which were de- 
vised to keep back our growth under the pretext of 
governing us, nor increase unhallowed passions w^hich 
time should rock to sleep. The grievances had be- 
come old as well as intolerable. The complaints 
were heard by the ears of tyranny in order, not to re- 
dress, but to punish, the petitioners for relief. The 
sight of those who had been injured could not be en- 
dured, much less their requests be regarded. A sum- 
mary of the burthens imposed and of the grievances 
long endured, longer perhaps than patience was a 
virtue, is drawn up in the Declaration of Congress> 
that constituted these United States a free and inde- 
pendent nation, in a style of elegance, in the fol'ce of 
truth, in a manner that justifies a national act which 
all posterity will admire. 

The founders of the first independent nation in the 
western world gave proofs of minds at once magnan- 



9 

imous and correct. They acted more from reasom 
than from passion. They had been taught by expe- 
rience, and adopted principles that had been embodi- 
ed in facts. The hardships of a new country made 
them practical men, fertile in expedients, patient of 
toil, and familiar with dangers. Providence had 
been prospective, had educated men fitted exactly to 
the enterprises, in which, in process of time and op- 
pression, they were to be engaged. They soon de- 
cided one important point, that their burthens were 
not to be borne, and they had not minds for slaves. 
By resolving to be free or to perish, they honoured tlia 
English nation from which they sprang, though it 
had not discernment enough to see it, nor virtue 
enough to feel the homage. Young and feeble, this 
country was without means of defence. Yet it was 
powerful, because it had Grod and right upon its side. 
Counsel was to be taken from courage. The conflict 
was unequal ; ten millions were armed against twa 
millions, veterans against the undisciplined, and plen- 
ty against the want of all tilings. But justice lield 
up her scales in the sight of all nations, and the re- 
sult we witnessed in successes, when our oppressors 
were compelled to let the oppressed go free. 

The same men, whom we admire as heroes, we 
admire sti more in counsel. Independence and self- 
government were great, bo there were still greater 
objects. They wished for an empire of laws, and 
not of men. They had felt soinething, and reaij 



10 

more, of the mischiefs and miseries of feudal systems. 
They had a full conviction, that the science of gov- 
ernment was susceptible of improvements as well as 
any other science. Though, for a time, they were 
without government and without laws, yet anarchy 
did not prevail, because virtue needed only her own 
rules. They had admitted a principle, not easy to 
be adopted by ambitious men, that all rightful au- 
thority proceeds from the people themselves, and is 
instituted for their good, not for the aggrandizement 
of rulers. The ancient Greeks and Romans, in cer- 
tain periods of their Republicks, entertained refined 
and exalted sentiments respecting free governments. 
JBut licentiousness, rather than liberty, was the prac- 
tical effect. They vibrated from one extreme to 
another. Their assemblies were inclined to riots, 
i'ather than to just restraints. They began with an 
absurdity, that a whole empire could meet to legis- 
late, to judge and to execute the laws. If they ever 
thought of a representative government, they never 
had virtue enough to adopt it. This principle is wor- 
thy of a patient experiment. It is possible it may be 
extended to a territory however large and to citizens 
however numerous. The framers of our constitution 
adopted other principles, valuable as they w ere new. 
The powers of sovereignty were divided into depart- 
ments, these were to serve as checks upon abuses of 
power, rendered unanimity in villainy necessary to 
the assumption of unlawful authority, while it wa? 



a 

intended to make justice superiour to dependance ou 
rulers themselves^ and gave security against power- 
ful oppressors in trials by jury. If the artful, the 
rich and tlie great could take care of themselves, yet 
no efforts were spared to secure the ]Hiv-v from the 
wealthy, the ignorant from the designing and the 
weak from the powerful. 

It is tr'ie, the science of government will always 
partake of the imperfections of men who both form 
and administer it. The first form of government 
adopted Ijy us was novel in its essential principles^ 
without a model, and without an experiment. Smart- 
ing under the lash of oppression, little power was 
confided to rulers. Of course, the Confederation 
was feeble, a giant in size, but without strength to 
move his enormous limbs. But the same spirit of 
mutual concession and patriotism, that established 
the first, was able to impart new energy to the second 
frame of government. Instructed by experience^, 
new powers were conveyed by the Constitution. Suc- 
cess, great as might have been expected, has tested 
its wisdom and worth. It has already resisted the 
temptations of peace, and borne the storm of war. 
The souls, which had been tried in the worst times, 
adopted it for the best. It contains the principles and 
powers of amendment within itself, while it seeks 
its own evergrowing perfection from lessons of expe- 
rience and the general illumination of all mankind. 
May it stand to passing ages the monument of wis- 



4S 

dom and admiration, like the great, wise and good 
men who formed it. The world talks of liberty ; 
there is one free government in it ; a Republick, 
which is the world's last and best hope. 

If the long agony be over, if the dangers be passed 
^y? y®t our duties remain. We have to know our 
own felicitj^ ; and the usurpations of ambitious men, 
and the miseries of other countries will help us to 
know it. The admirable principles of our Constitu- 
tion require the citizens to be possessed of the same 
excellent spirit. National character will be erected 
on the basis of the virtues of individuals. The revi- 
ler of publick authority ought to reflect, that he weak- 
ens, while he degrades it. He contributes to the 
evils, of which he complains. Genuine liberty is to 
be distinguished from spurious. That, which belongs 
to wolves and tigers, to make others a prey, to value 
their own interests only, to use power instead of right, 
is a rapacity as dreadful as the crimes of the greatest 
despots. The only liberty that is either lovely or 
safe lies in the restraints of education, in the security 
of equal laws, in the exercise of rights, in the diffu- 
sion of property equalized by labours, in morals and 
religion, whose reign is in the heart, purifying pub- 
lick opinions, before Iheir united influence reaches 
rulers. It is the restraint of reason, not the violence 
of corruption. The sun of liberty cheers, not con- 
sumes. 



IS 

Men talk as if rulers only had duties to perform. 
As men in power are few in number, much more must 
depend on the conduct of the people. Publick opin- 
ion is an immense power, before which rulers them- 
selves are often obliged to yield. A nation is safe, 
when every man does his duty. A people well in- 
formed and virtuous hardly need a Constitution, while 
a nation ignorant and corrupt will not regard even a 
good one. In order to be sensible to what a height 
individuals even in the walks of private life are able 
to raise the glory of a nation, we ha -e only to think 
of Newton, Locke, Addison, and other compeers in 
talents, merit and fame, who honoured their country 
not less than they did themselves. Enlightened 
minds shed a glory on all around them. Full of ig- 
norance, a nation is prepared to be slaves. Not 
knowing their rights, they possess neither the means 
nor the courage to vindicate them. A Republick is 
an expedient towards self-government; and, more 
than any other form, it demands the wide diffusion 
of knowledge and virtue among all classes of people. 
Its life is to cherish institutions of science, of chari- 
ty, of arts, of all which embellishes human nature 
or multiplies its comforts. Personal meriifs are so 
many services rendered to the publick. No one truly 
loves his country, who does not love his duty. He 
does much to save the Commonwealth, who educates 
his children to be the brightest ornaments of it. The 
pareat acts the patriot, who ensures good order in 



society by commencing with good regulations in tlif 
little but interesting circle of his own fauiiiy. 

A voice that could reach both Continents and all 
islands and ears should proclaim what follows. "^ Of 
all dispositions and habits Avhich lead to political 
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable 
supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute 
of patriotism, who would labour to subvert these 
great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props 
of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politi- 
cian, equally with tlie pious man, ought to respect 
and cherish theai. A volume could not trace all 
their connections with private and publick felicity. 
Let it simply be asked, where is the security for 
property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of re- 
ligious obligation desert the oaths which are the in- 
struments of investigation in courts of justice? And 
let ns with caution indulge the supposition, tbat mo- 
rality can be maintained without religion. Whatever 
may be conceded to the influence of refined education 
on minds of peculiar structure, reaison and experience 
both forbid us to expect, that national morality can 
prevail in exclusion of religious principle.'' 

Whatever be our present enjoyments and hopes, it 
is absurd to imagine that no dangers can arise. We 
must be wise to prevent, or be prepared to meet them. 
The very calm of life presents temptations, and rest- 
less spirits find their sport or their profit in tempests 
that spread ruins around them. Idleness^ luxury and 



15 

abundance are so many sources of evils. All the vices 
are at war with mankind, and destroy more than the 
sword and the pestilence. Pride and discontent car- 
ry misery to millions, while mad ambition appears 
in ten thousand ever varying forms. While ambition 
would wade to a throne through seas of blood, power 
would engross every thing to itself. Discord has 
been the bane of states, the instrument that has divi- 
ded great cities, and the monster that has swallowed 
up mighty empires. When order and union throw 
away the reins of government, the boldest, not the 
best men, seize them. Ingratitude is said to be the 
vice of Republicks, and slander the reward of servi^ 
ces rendered ; and, if ever wise, great and good men 
should become tired out with such recompense, some 
military despot, bred up to command, accustomed to 
perils and expedients, might find means to reward 
himself. Experience has found, that party is the 
worst kind of despotism, which would trample, with 
increase of means and safety, on laws themselves. 
There is such a thing as too much regulation. A- 
mendments, carried to excess, may not meliorate, but 
destroy. Innovation will not think enough is done, 
until nothing of substance shall remain. 

We will take to ourselves the satisfaction of be- 
lieving, that our beloved country is about to enjoy 
better prospects. An experiment in republican gov- 
ernment, with new improvements, provisions and 
powers, has. ftr a long series of years, been making. 



16 

and has not yet failed. If it has not produced a par- 
adise, it has fulfilled a more rational expectation, 
that of procuring for the people a greater amount of 
safety, happiness and prosperity than has heen pos- 
sessed by any other nation on the face of the globe. 
To increase your confidence in proceeding with the 
experiment already making, your minds should be 
fortified with the consideration, that it has been made 
in the worst times, when our own nation was without 
the wisdom of experience and the strength of age, 
when all the rest of the world was in the midst of 
unparalleled revolutions, when all governments trem- 
bled and when none felt secure. Restless men from 
the frightful agitations of the old world have brought 
■with them the waters of strife, and have had impu- 
dence enough to urge us to drink of the cup they had 
mingled for us. The time has come when men are 
beginning to see, that our own country contains in 
it all that is dear, that we can have ne interests in 
foreign countries, except being warned by their er- 
rours, avoiding their vices, and thus escaping their 
miseries. 

One of the evils of the times is jealousy, which is 
always blind as well as cruel. The owners of the 
soil can have but one common interest in the govern- 
ment that protects them. The smaller States can 
have their only safety in union, the larger cannot be 
secure alone, while, at times, of most danger too, each 
one needs the produce, the favour and the strength of 



17 

all tlie rest. In process of years, iii proportion as 
all see in turn their particular interests consulted in 
national statutes, missions and treaties, suspicion^ 
wearied out witii fruitless efforts, may fall asleep. 

Party spirit is an evil of immense magnitude. An- 
cient Republicks, incapable of being destroyed by 
foreign emissaries, fell by this insatiate monster that 
would spare nothing. What do any gain by it but 
uneasiness and misery to themselves ? What more 
can be desired than right of suffrage ? Is not differ- 
ence of opinion a part of that political liberty, which 
it was intended every man should enjoy as his right? 
Shall men contend about old differences, when many 
of them do not longer exist? A system is pursued in 
the creation of a navy, in preparations for defence, in 
Ihe efforts to establish publick credit, and in other es- 
sential points, which all, at times, have joined to ap- 
plaud. It is time that party spirit should be slain, 
as food is becoming scarce, that fattens it. 

In the late treaty formed with this country, we dis- 
cover a principle, valuable as it is new, of termina- 
ting international disputes by a method more accor- 
dant with reason and religion, with justice and hu- 
manity. This is, a peaceable discussion of claims, 
a spirit of mutual concession, or a reference to other 
nations for arbitration and decision. The christian 
world have long been hoping for some expedient 
which may put an end to the crimes and calamities of 
2mr. Civilized nations have too long employed the 
3 



weapons and the means used by savages. In the 
contests of nations, nothing has appeared common to 
christians but the blood they have shed. After lives of 
thousands of men and immense treasures have foryears 
been thrown away, nations must still settle the terms 
of reconciliation at last by argument and negociation, 
with which they might much better have begun than 
ended, " leaving off contention before it is meddled 
with." It Qiay be said, nations will never settle 
their disputes in this manner. A few centuries ago, 
individuals could not settle their private quarrels ei- 
ther by arbitration or in courts of justice, but by the 
sword and in duels. Are nations only incapable of 
being improved? May they only take away thou- 
sands of lives with impunity ? Shall government set 
examples and do acts, which it is death in private 
persons to imitate ? Can no court of equity and of 
right find a place among nations ? ^^ Shall the sword 
devour forever?" Shall animal force be called in as 
the arbiter of right rather than reason? It is time the 
christian world should purge itself from these abomi- 
nations. They are unworthy of barbarians. It be- 
longs to beasts only to decide by physical strength. 
It is time for every human being to use his best efforts 
to stop the current of blood and crimes. The guilt 
is already immensely great, and it is high time it had 
become unpopular. If the people will not support 
mad and ambitious sovereigns by brutal violence, 
they must soon be compelled to abide by the peacea- 
ble decisions of justice. 



49 



The present is an age of improvements. Men be- 
gin to view the whole human race as one family of 
brethren. The remotest parts of the earth are per- 
forming kind offices to each other. Christians should 
have large hearts. Such treasures of charity were 
never put into circulation till now. Society after so- 
ciety is formed to convey blessings to distant mil- 
lions. Benevolence is no longer a matter of cool cal- 
culation, but flows spontaneously from the hearts of 
millions. Let us imbibe this generous spirit, and 
swell the rising tide of a divine beneficence. 

Forty years are completed this day, since these 
United States began to be ranked among the nations 
of the earth. In the retrospect, there will be much 
for gratitude ; and, in the future, there will be much 
to hope. Piety will be able to trace the hand of God 
in the great events which have followed in quick suc- 
cession, to astonish or to distress the world. Revo- 
lution has succeeded revolution, while darkness and 
dread have brooded over the minds of millions. The 
frightful tempests have roared at a distance, where 
they have expended their greatest fury. With less 
harm than almost any other nation, we have escaped 
the ruins around us. With new zeal, let us cleave to 
institutions which have preserved to us so much se- 
curity and repose. The God of the pilgrims will be 
with their sons, if they tread in their pious steps. 
The distinguishing blessings we enjoy as a nation, 
and still more the peculiar privileges conferred by re- 



S0 

iigion, at once impose new obligations, and enable us 
the better to know and to do our duty. The best of 
men will be found to be the first of patriots. Let thfe 
joyous business of this auspicious day prove us the 
sons of the patriots and puritans of Ntw-England by 
our love of moral propriety and by the observance of 
social order. At our homes and in our labours, let 
us prove that we are not wholly unworthy of our an- 
cestors, nor unmindful of our high destinies. On this 
memorable day, when we trace the spirit and con- 
duct of the great men, who founded this growing Re- 
publick, let us be ashamed of former coldness towards 
brethren of the same political family. In the sight of 
each other, let us slay those party feelings, which arc 
the greatest enemies of our peace. When tempted to 
" speak evil of dignities and of the powers that be, 
which are ordained of God,'' pause long enough to 
reflect, that our government will be perfect, wheo our 
citizens shall be so. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




